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Professor Lefoux ru with six little wheels affixed to its botto a teakettle-like object, an embroidery roll of wrenches, and a few other tools Eventually, she found another crossbow, larger and heavier than the others She handed it to Sophronia

"Now, class, note howis on this one? That will yield a more forceful bolt This is more deadly and more accurate at distances Go ahead, Miss Teave it her best effort, but it was i It snapped forward several tied it by bracing against the ith her foot and using both arher-i force and fairly tore the handkerchief in half before hitting the wall behind with a loud thunk

"Miss Temminnick, keep with that one Now, class, after sunset prepare for a co-lesson with Professor Braithwope, at which point ill use a et?" Preshea looked wary

Professor Lefoux looked at her as if the answer should be self-evident "Professor Braithwope hie wood trencher We’ll use metal bolts so as not to do any permanent haritation "We have to shoot directly at a living target?"

"Not exactly living, but yes" Professor Lefoux was remarkably unperturbed

Sophronia felt bound to object "I, for one, should prefer not to shoot at someone I like"

"Admirable scruples, Miss Temminnick Get over them, for you will do it anyway"

"Yes, Professor" Sophronia wanted to object further Professor Braithasn’t in his rightto shoot at a crazy person, even if that person was a vaility ht make him unpredictable and harder to hit Still, Sophronia would hate to add crossbow injury to her long list of transgressions against a teacher who, in the end, was nothingand a curiously unstable ood idea" Agatha was obliquely referring to the fact that Professor Lefoux, as the va She was his food source

They continued the crossbow lesson until sunset, at which point they were allowed a short rest It was one of those rare clear nights on thewould be back It was like table settings The skies of Dartmoor were perpetually set for visitors, rarely bare of decoration

The girls, tired froainst the rails and watched the sun sink over the upland heath, gossiping quietly There was soument over an article in last week’s popular papers, retrieved for analysis by the teachers in Swiffle-on-Exe Gossip colu, as one had to read between the lines not only to understand the way society worked but also to puzzle out aristocratic machinations, determine the bias in the press, and look for encoded missives within the back proreat deal of attention A few girls were conteht it was simply an advertisee concerning Scandinavian infiltration into northern Scotland So uard Add to that the fact that the Scandinavians had been keeping an awful lot to the if they could be trusted Pickled herring was, in the end, a hugely suspicious food

Professor Braithwope joined theundy cravat tied neatly in the waterfall style, his waistcoat, jacket, and trousers all charcoal gray His eccentricity ofhim to wear odd items like a stovepipe beaver hat or a satin cape, but he never wore theht have lost his ht, however, he looked irls were tentative about the assignment, but it becah to insist on dancing an Irish fling the entire ti order It was ied or intercepted the dart with his wooden trencher

"Do you see? Not so easy to kill a va

Sophronia wondered if the va different about the pilot’s bubble recently She decided to try to converse with him She hoped Professor Lefoux would see this as an atte in a shot